$1M GOCO grant supports Legacy Loop

The city of Colorado Springs received a $1 million grant from Great Outdoors Colorado for the Legacy Loop project, the city said in a news release. The intersection of Recreation Way and Fontanero Street will serve as the future site of a multi-use Legacy Loop trailhead.

“The $1 million GOCO grant will help Colorado Springs move closer to completing a park and trail ring around the city center, known as the Legacy Loop, which was originally the vision of Colorado Springs’ founder General William Palmer over 100 years ago,” the release said.

GOCO funds come from the sales of Lottery tickets.

A series of projects on the north and northwest portions of the proposed 10-mile loop will create significant trail connections from the Rock Island Trail to the Pikes Peak Greenway on the north end of Monument Valley Park, according to the release, which added enhancements for trail heads and underpasses will create greater access to Monument Creek waterway.

Major elements of the Legacy Loop project:

• Construction of nearly 2.5 miles of 12-foot-wide concrete multiuse recreational trail on the north and northwest portions of the Legacy Loop;

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• Construction of the Rock Island Trail’s ‘missing gap’ from the Pikes Peak Greenway to the existing Rock Island Trail at Templeton Gap Road — a trail that will link, for the first time, the major north-south trail and the major east-west trail in our region (Pikes Peak Greenway and Rock Island Trail). This project element also includes a Shook’s Run and Rock Island Trail connection;

• Construction of a 12-foot-wide concrete trail on the west side of Monument Creek from Uintah Street north to the Rock Island Trail Corridor at west Van Buren Street;

• Construction of the Legacy Loop Trailhead at W. Fontanero Street and Recreation Way. The multi-use Legacy Loop Trailhead will have space for up to 100 cars, amenities for special events, races, community gatherings and convenient access from I-25 to the Legacy Loop trail and Monument Valley Park;

• Safe trail underpasses and creek access on the west side of Monument Creek at west Uintah Street and on the east and west sides of Monument Creek at Mesa Road; and

• Development of the PopCycle Bridge at the northwest corner of the Legacy Loop at Monument Creek. The PopCycle Bridge, a project of city partner Kids on Bikes, will include a gathering space for trail users, bicycle art and a car-free roadway striped to mimic an active road so that children and new cyclists can learn how to safely navigate bike lanes and intersections on a recreational trail.

Bryan Grossman has lived in Colorado since 1989 and is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has been editor of the Colorado Springs Business Journal since 2018, and has also held the roles of managing editor, reporter and digital editor with the Business Journal. Grossman has worked in a print journalism newsroom, on and off, since 2004.